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Tuesday, December 28, 2010

So, I was looking at my stats on my blogger dashboard, and noticed that my Vitamin Water Ad post is my most popular post. But, since it's just a picture with a "hey look at the tag line" people don't know the story behind it, so I am reposting both posts combined, in their entirey for everyone to revisit. The ad has since been taken down and replaced with something else (not vitamin water related, I forget who is paying for that advertising space in the gym now)...

Anyhow, with no further adeiu and nothing more pithy to add- my Vitamin Water rants

Post 1:So, this morning, started off a bit rocky anyhow. Usually I'm up at about five thirty-ish (well that's when my alarm goes off anyhow) Then, I spent five minutes saying "five more minutes, five more minutes contemplating whether or not I can afford to skip the morning swim because I'm so warm and comfy in my bed, five minutes yelling at myself telling myself of course I can't afford to skip the morning workout- do I not realize there are ONLY 14 weeks left until the Triathlon. Then I usually lay in bed for about a minute or so more, and I'm up and out by 6:00.

One of my idiot dogs, who is getting older but seems to think he can still eat common household items and digest them with no problem (Think- Marley and Me and you have my dog) got into a bag of peas that I threw in the garbage because they were freezer burned, and ate them- all. This was a very large frozen pea bag might I add. So, the ahole was up all night panting and whining needing to be let out every half hour or so, to expel said peas. Needless to say, I did not get a lot of sleep. Usually, the dog wakes my husband up, and I can continue to sleep in a blissful unaware state until said husband tells me about the evenings goings on the next morning. However, over the past few weeks I seem to be a lighter and lighter sleeper. Who knows.

So, the alarm went off- I turned it off and said five more minutes, which turned into twenty. So, late start- plus traffic (for what reason I have no clue) plus empty gas- I got into the pool very late this morning.

You know how yesterday I said that the pool is relatively empty in the morning so it is a very fast swim- yeah today, the pool was packed. Apparently word got out how empty it is in the morning and everyone flocked to the pool. Grr.

All of these things already put in me a quasi-bad mood when in the ladies locker room is a gigundo poster from Vitamin Water that reads "Spandex is not a right, it's a privilege"

I took a look at it, immediately thinking "Oh, really?" and it reminded me of a post I made a few months back regarding seeing myself, in spandex (well, cotton stretchy pants but same idea) and how spandex is not my friend, regardless of what Slow Fat Triathlete said. Well Guess what, I changed my mind.

BS posters like this made me change my mind. Who is Vitamin Water to say who deserves to wear spandex? I know, its only an ad campaign but this stupid poster points to the same bs that society has been putting in womens head for decades. Sadly, fat seems to be the only acceptable discrimination left. I understand now, why SFT put an entire chapter in her book regarding spandex, because with posters like that- heavier people do feel ashamed to have something skin tight exposing all of their pudge and jiggles. But you know what, it makes running or biking a whole lot easier than if you were doing it in regular shorts or pants.

So, everyone, pudgy or super skinny should embrace their spandex pants while working out- who cares what you look like. You're working out right? Youre doing something to change yourself right? Clearly any hater that you may be afraid will comment has no brick to stand on since you are actually out there trying to make a change, right?

Heck- I do a walk of shame every day from the lockeroom to the pool in nothing but a bathing suit, with all my pudge, rumples and divits out there for the world to see. I used to, when I first started swimming again, about three years ago- walk out to the pool area with a towel wrapped around me- but I soon realized I would still have to get out of the pool and walk over to the towel area- so what did it matter if I hid behind a towel coming in- when going out I wouldn't be able to hide. I told myself, at least I'm doing something to change the way I look so who cares if the little hamsters on their treadmills and ellipticals that are looking into the pool area can see me- I'm here for the same reason they are.

You should adopt this attitude too. If you are comfortable rocking the spandex- do it. Who gives a crap what Vitamin Water or the world thinks about it. Screw them and their "privileges"

Post 2:

So, Ive been meaning to take a picture of the Vitamin Water ad that is hanging in my locker room... but I tried taking it today and was informed that camera phones are strictly forbidden in the locker room.. ok- tell that to the lady who chats on her IPhone while getting dressed every flipping day.

Anyhow, I googled it and was able to find the same ad.

Here is what it looks like

Its really hard to see the tag line, you have to look closely but it is there - in the parentheses ...

Sunday, December 26, 2010

So- in the upcoming weeks, I'm going to be working on a way to get a group together to compete with me in the Womens Sprint Triathlon in June. I'm hoping to get a Logo designed and some T-Shirts printed up for my "Team M-Power" triathlon Team.

I hope that many of you will join me. Or, if you are reading this from a different state, considering participating in a Triathlon near you.

What does it take to do a Triathlon? Well, first of all, I hear a lot "I want to but, I work a full time job" - my response, ... I work a full time job, go to school 3/4 time, and still find time to work out. It's just about setting the intention and pursuing it. Granted, as we get closer to Tri Day, you will pretty much be eating sleeping and breathing Swim Bike Run, but only you can decide if you truly don't have time to do it, or you're just saying that you don't have time.

Now, I'm no expert, so I am only speaking based on what I did last year to get ready for my first Triathlon.

If you are going from totally sedintary to Triathlon, I'd make January 1st your target day to start working out.

In the first couple of months, I'd start with 30 minutes of activity and work from there.

For me, I will be swimming for 45-hour in the morning (45 to start out, maybe even thirty, because I haven't swum in months and it's going to hurt... a lot.)

Before actually Tri Training Starts (in March) you can swim one day, take a day off, bike the next day, take the next day off, run the next day, take a day off... and repeat.

Once we get into the thick of things, you will pretty much be working out everyday in some form or another. And, as we move into the last month before the Triathlon, you will need an hour and a half block once a week to work on your Bricks.

You can find awesome information in books like "Triathlon for Dummies" and "Slow Fat Triathlete"- I highly recommend these for the begining Triathlete.

I will begin my training at the start of the new year. I will also be incorporating "Strength Training for Triathletes" into my workout.

You can buy these books used on Amazon, if you don't want to drop fifty plus dollars on books to start.

As we go along, I'll post tidbits on things Ive learned or read, and also give you progress updates on my training.

If you are on Facebook, I encourage you to find See Millie Tri on Facebook, that way, if you are planning on training for a Tri - we can interact through there.

I truly hope to have many being part of Team M-Power this upcoming Tri Season!

Monday, December 20, 2010

On Saturday, between Christmas present stops, the ball and chain and I decided to take a rest at Barnes and Noble. I bought the current issue of Triathlete magazine, and there was an Ad in there for something I can't remember of a guy on a couch with his swim gear next to him, his running shoes on, and a bike behind him (snow in the window) and in brief summary suggested that one should not allow themselves to get fat and lazy over the wintertime, when weather may prevent them from training as they want to. All I could do is laugh, because if that wasn't the sign-i-est sign on the planet I don't know what is. So I bought the magazine (it had some great other articles in there as well- and NOTE- if you need help on your flip turn, there is an excellent article giving you the breakdown of a flip turn- I highly recommend checking it out.

Anyhow, school is over for a bit woohoo! So, it's time to refocus. I'm currently only registered for one class next semester- because funds are ridiculously low right now, and well, in all honesty it's all I can afford to take considering all the dough were spending on the ball and chain for his classes next semester. I'm hoping to at least get one or two more in, but I have to wait and see how funds develop post Christmas. Ive decided to invest in myself for this upcoming year. I know in the previous breath I just said our school funds are low, and I should really be spending my holiday bonus for another class, but I decided that buying a BodyMedia monitoring system would in the long run be very beneficial to every goal that I have.

If you haven't seen them (most noticed on the contestants in the Biggest Loser) they are essentially a little mini computer you wear on your arm twenty four hours a day, that calculates how many calories your burn, how many calories you are eating, how well you are sleeping and overall body chemistry. And, if you remember last summer when I said "I wish I could figure out exactly how much I should be eating while training... well after doing a whole lot of research, it looks like this is what I have been looking for. So, I'm excited to try it. I haven't ordered it yet, I'm going to wait until just after Christmas, in all honesty I'm hoping its going to go on sale- because spending $300 on myself has me riddled with guilt. Anyhow, I will let you all know when I get it and the updates on how well it is working.

Christmas is only a few days away, I still have a whole heck of a lot to do before the holiday. Thankfully Amazon has been my best friend this Christmas. And the Amazon Student Prime is seriously, the best thing since sliced bread (2 day shipping for $3.99 the BEST! I love it) Ninety percent of my holiday shopping was done online this semester, so yay for Amazon.

I'm hoping to start working out again next week. My body is seriously falling apart. And I don't know if its from lack of exercise, lack of sleep or poor sleep, spending so many hours in front of computers either at work or at home and rotating between using the main computer in my office or using my laptop - but pretty much everything on my left side of my body hurts in some way shape or form. It started with my elbow pre-triathlon. Then it sort of got better (more like spread to my shoulder) and now I have flaming hot flashes of pain in the muscles on the back side of my collarbone (I dont remember what muscle group that is) and it happens inexplicably and totally at random.

If that isn't bad enough, my ankle got hurt running the 5k which healed, but now I have almost like sciatica in my left side lower back- and if I walk too long, I get knots in the muscles of my lower back/upper butt. Only on my left side. So, as a result of that, Im pretty sure my gait has changed which has now resulted in hurting my knee on my right side of my body. Seriously I;m not kidding my whole body is falling apart. Im hoping that it's just that my joints are all creaky and rusty from not working out (I read something somewhere that constant exercise lubes the joints) - lets hope thats all it is.

Three weeks of reprieve before the demands of school start again (well, hopefully the demands of school lol the lonely little one class I have now wont be very demanding - it would be a cake walk compared to these past few semesters, but we all know thats not how I roll lol)

Monday, December 6, 2010

A little over a week ago, I was contacted via my blog email : millie@seemillietri.com by RockTape. In case you dont know what ROCKTAPE is- you can check out their website www.rocktape.com but simply- it's athletic tape (the technical term is kinseology tape) that can be used in place of wearing support braces on your joints. I talked about using them at the Hot Chocolate 5k and apparently, someone from Rocktape was reading because they sent me a "You Are A Rockstar!" package !!!

I am so humbled, and honored that anyone (let alone someone at a huge company like Rocktape) reads my musings.

So, they provided me with SO much Rocktape that I'm going to have a little contest. My spin bike is sharing a room with Gustav, my masochistic treadmill... and Gustav requires that all pieces of exercise equipment that share a room with him, must have a name. So, my Spin Bike needs a name. For a while, he's been Dieter but he doesn't seem like a Dieter. I called him Adolf for a while, but Adolf doesn't seem fitting either.